Sōma Yukihira/Relationships
Through his course of life, Sōma has formed various relationship with everyone he has met from his early childhood in his neighborhood to his high school life in Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. From family and friends to rivals and adversaries, Sōma's interactions with many people have helped to develop his cooking skills on his journey to become the ultimate chef. Family Jōichirō Yukihira Jōichirō is Sōma's father, who is a freelance world class chef. Sōma respects his father not just a parental figure, but also his mentor, friend and even potential rival as he wished to become the living legacy of his home restaurant. It is due to his years of cookery training with Jōichirō, Sōma has become an unexpected material in the cooking world, with a vast wealth of cooking knowledge that transcends multiple cultures and countries. Unfortunately he also picked up Jōichirō's experimental food creating habits with equally shocking results. When he learned that his father was Jōichirō Saiba, a 2nd seat of the Elite 10 Council Hall of Famer, Sōma's respect for his father increased and hopes to achieve such greatness as well. Polar Star Dormitory Megumi Tadokoro Megumi is the very first student of the 92nd Tōtsuki Generation whom Sōma befriended. Due to Soma's grandiose declaration at the entrance ceremony, Megumi wanted to stay far away from him as possible. Unfortunately in her first class in Roland Chapelle's class, she was immediately paired with him. Though they were nearly sabotaged, Sōma's quick thinking and ingenuity saved their Boeuf Bourguignon, and caused Chapelle to smile for the first time and passed them with an "A" despite wishing to give them a higher grade than that. Thanks to Sōma, Megumi's academy life started off well. Megumi is Sōma's main partner throughout their initial months at Tōtsuki Culinary Academy, with Sōma leading and Megumi assisting. During the rare moments where Megumi would cook, the surprisingly good results would leave Sōma and the others to wonder why she cannot perform like that in class. However, later she reveals its due to her lack of confidence. During the second day of the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training, Megumi failed Shinomiya's assignment when she changed his recipe because of the handicap that he forced on her. Displeased by his unfairness, Sōma challenged Shinomiya to a Shokugeki to keep Megumi in the school. This would begin the epic, yet infamous [[Yukihira-Shinomiya Shokugeki Feud]], with Megumi as head chef and Soma assisting. Though Megumi was originally lost, thanks to some goading from Gin Dōjima, her cooking managed to sway Shinomiya's mind and allowed her to stay. Megumi has been thankful to Sōma since for helping her gain confidence in her cooking. Since then, her cooking quality has improved greatly. Satoshi Isshiki The current 7th Seat of the Elite Ten Council and the new blood Polar Star Gang leader, Satoshi is both respected senpai and rival in the academy. When he heard the rumors about Sōma's declaration at his entrance ceremony, Satoshi challenged him to a cook-off while holding his (Sōma's) welcome party. Though Satoshi's dish was impressive, Soma's dish proved superior, however it was later revealed that Satoshi's held back his true skill in his dish. Soma would later try to challenge Satoshi to a Shokugeki for his seat, but he refused as the penalty for a loss against an Elite Ten member by a non-ranked student would require more than just expulsion for a penalty and Satoshi did not want Soma to leave just yet. Learning that Soma is the son of the former Polar Star Golden Era legend and previous Elite Ten Council 2nd Seat Hall of Famer, Jōichirō Saiba, Satoshi considers Sōma as a one-of-the-kind student as his professionalism due to his constant challenges towards his father, has made him into an incredible chef. Due to both Saiba's legacy and amazing creativity, Satoshi thinks he as an interesting subject in the academy, dubbed him as the Polar Star Gang powerhouse chef, and his statement would be a sign of a vast wave of Shokugekis. Ryoko Sakaki Fellow 92nd generation Tōtsuki student and Polar Star Gang member, Ryoko is one of Sōma's allies and friends during his life in the academy. Along with the other Polar Star Gang, Ryoko is shocked to hear that Sōma is the son of a former Golden Era Polar Star Gang member and a previous 2nd Seat Elite Ten Council Hall of Famer, Saiba Jōichirō. Yūki Yoshino Fellow 92nd generation Tōtsuki student and Polar Star Gang member, Yūki is one of Sōma's allies and friends during his life in the academy. During the Training camp, Yūki immediately slapped Sōma for being reckless when he returned to the hotel after Megumi's Shokugeki. Along with theother Polar Star Gang, Yūki is shocked to hear that Sōma is the son of a former Golden Era Polar Star Gang member and a previous 2nd Seat Elite Ten Council Hall of Famer, Saiba Jōichirō. Shun Ibusaki Fellow 92nd generation Tōtsuki student and Polar Star Gang member, Shun is one of Soma's allies and friends during his life in the academy. Along with other Polar Star Gang, Shun is shocked to hear that Soma is the son of a former Golden Era Polar Star Gang member and a previous 2nd Seat Elite Ten Council Hall of Famer, Saiba Jōichirō. Zenji Marui Fellow 92nd generation Tōtsuki student and Polar Star Gang member, Zenji is one of Soma's allies and friends during his life in the academy. Along with other Polar Star Gang, Zenji is shocked to hear that Sōma is the son of a former Golden Era Polar Star Gang member and a previous 2nd Seat Elite Ten Council Hall of Famer, Saiba Jōichirō. Tōtsuki Culinary Academy: Allies and Rivals 92nd Tōtsuki Generation Because of his ambitious speech at the 92nd Entrance Ceremony, nearly all of Sōma's classmates are hostile towards him. During his very first Shokugeki, Sōma was greeted by unanimous boos and jeers. This speech that Sōma gave drew the attention of many of the 92nd Generation's greatest prospects and geniuses to challenge him in the academy. While most are hostile towards him, some have developed friendships and even friendly rivalry with him. Time and time again, Sōma has proven that his declaration was not unfounded, causing more and more of his classmates to seek him out. While Sōma sees a vast majority of his class unimpressive, a handful of them have caught Sōma's attention, all of whom he admits will make things more complicated and interesting as time goes on. Erina Nakiri Known as her "God's Tongue", Erina is Sōma's main arch nemesis. As the current 10th seat of the Elite Ten and the only first year in the Elite Ten, Erina views herself as superior to all of her classmates. Erina prided with her influential family status and her God's Palette, which is able taste the quality of a dish with 100% accuracy. Erina sees Sōma as an imperfection in her otherwise flawless world and looks down upon him mostly due to his humble, less prestigious background. In Sōma's initial entrance exam in which she was the judge, she was left impressed by Sōma's dish, however a mixture of her pride and Soma's cockiness caused her to reject him from the school. Unbeknownst to Sōma and Erina, her grandfather, Senzaemon Nakiri, would later taste Sōma's dish and immediately accept him into the school. At the entrance ceremony, Erina was present as Sōma was introduced as a last minute entrant. Though Erina tries to intimidate Soma by saying that everyone else has been in culinary education since middle school while he has not, Soma is unfazed since he has been cooking in a professional setting for 12 years, compared to the minimum 3 years of formal education training the others have. Since that day, Erina's main goal has been to try to make Soma's school life as miserable as possible or refute his skills such as vocally revoking Soma's participation in the Autumn Election, though the notion was overruled. Any mention of his name sends Erina into a spiral of frustration and anger. Erina also tries to make clear of their difference in status and skill, though with little success due to Sōma not caring or simply misunderstanding what she is saying. Sōma on the other hand is not hostile towards Erina though his main motivation is to have her clearly say that his food is good, despite the fact that she stubbornly refuses to admit that his entry dish was good. Little does Erina know that Sōma is the son of her cooking idol, Jōichirō Saiba whom she seems to have a crush on. Ikumi Mito Formerly a rival and also known as the Meat Expert of the Mito House, Ikumi is Sōma's first rival in the academy whose philosophy that the dishes made by the highest grade of meat leads to the most elegant and tastiest dishes. Like many of the other students at Tōtsuki, Ikumi's prestige as a scion of a world famous company made her a very egotistical person over Sōma. Ikumi was initially an ally and enforcer of Erina but after she lost in the Shokugeki against Sōma, Erina cut ties with her. Initially frustrated with the result, when Sōma asked to try her dish and called her nickname "Nikumi" cute, Ikumi developed a hidden crush on him, though has developed a tsundere type of personality regarding that matter. Since her defeat, Ikumi turned over a new leaf and became one of Sōma's main allies, mostly in regards to meat info. Ikumi showed great concern for Soma's actions during the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training, especially regarding [[Yukihira-Shinomiya Shokugeki Feud| his Unofficial Shokugeki against Shinomiya]] and his close call with this 11th hour 200 egg dish challenge. Sōma would later call and ask for her assistance during the Karaage Wars against Mozuya's Karaage to regain the Sumiredoori Shopping District's former popularity. Ikumi was initially flattered by his request for her help, but was disappointed when Mayumi Kurase was present as an assistant. Still, Ikumi offered as much help as she could, such as getting him the highest quality meat for a fraction of its true price. Takumi Aldini The self proclaimed arch-rival of Sōma, Takumi is one of Sōma's main competitors in Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. Like Sōma, Takumi's prestige comes from a family restaurant instead of the world class company. Both Sōma and Takumi share a common bond of pride for their family restaurants and their resourcefulness to create a unique dish that left the crowd a bigger impression. The two meet each other during the first day of the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training where Takumi challenges Soma to a cook off. Though Takumi's dish performs spectacularly well due to his integration of Aigamo, Soma's unsuspected creativity results in a no contest situation that leaves both of them felt bitter about the result. Since then, the two have become much more friendly than their first encounter, but the rivalry is mostly one-sided with Takumi being more heated about it. Takumi vows to be the first rival to defeat Sōma and keeps tabs on all of Sōma's actions including [[Yukihira-Shinomiya Shokugeki Feud| his Unofficial Shokugeki against Shinomiya]] and his 11th hour 200 egg challenge. Isami Aldini Twin Brother of Takumi, Isami is less hostile towards Sōma compared to his brother. He enjoys mostly laughing at his brother's poor attempts to intimidate Sōma, which usually ends in a comedic fashion. It is not known how he truly feels about Sōma, but he is willing to assist his brother in his battles against Sōma. In the same time however, Isami also befriends with him as he sees Sōma is Takumi's both rival and friend in the academy. Alice Nakiri Erina's Danish cousin and rival, Alice is one of Sōma's rival whose cooking skill come closes to Erina's. Alice was present during Sōma's infamous entrance speech and developed an interest in him. She is much less hostile compared to Sōma's other rivals, but still sees him as major competition. Unlike her cousin who is looked down upon Sōma due to his underdog status, Alice instead would see him as an interesting rival and will attempt to humble him should they cross paths again while maintain her skepticism about Sōma whose skills are not artistic and scientific as hers. During the Autumn Election's Main Tournament, Alice finally confronted and battled Sōma in a Bento challenge. Despite her best display though, she was defeated as Sōma's simple yet special bento dish not just made the judges (including her grandfather) happily indulged the dish, but also humbled her through its heart-warming taste. For Sōma, he would sometimes addressed her as "Nakiri Cousin" as both Erina and Alice shared their family names. Like his perspective upon Erina's perfect dishes, both artistic and scientific method to make the food attractive never crossed his mind. Instead, Sōma's take on cooking is much more free and unbound from traditional conventions, but he acknowledged her skill and chooses not to underestimate her. Much like Erina's intimation, Sōma remains unfazed even with Alice's attempts to intimidate him and considered her as both friend & rival in the academy. Akira Hayama First year student who works as the assistant under Shiomi, Akira is a curry expert whose passion about spice and herbs are beyond anyone's comprehension. Skilled with curry dishes and gifted with his sharp nose, Akira belittles Sōma's abilities despite the widespread knowledge about his exploits. Like Ikumi who holds pride over meat, he holds pride over spices, declaring them as the fundamental aspect for successful dishes. Much like his perspective about Erina and Alice's concept of making the best food, Sōma also theorized that Akira's extreme reliance on his nose would be both a surprising aide and a fatal flaw for a chef in most cooking, despite the importance of spices. Although impressed about his unique cookery skills that focus on aroma, Sōma finds motivation to become just as good with spices is to improve his cooking skill and a certain knowledge about spice. Despite his theory about Akira's weakness, Soma respects him as he is, on record, the first person of 92nd generation to leave Sōma visibly impressed after eating a curry dish made by Akira. Akira handed Sōma his second "defeat" in Tōtsuki, losing by only one point in the Autumn Election Preliminaries. However from Akira's perspective, his victory was not as decisive since the point spread differed between the two with three of the judges declaring that Sōma's dish was better while the other two declared that Akira's was better, even giving him perfect scores. Semifinals Though Subaru's victory was not well received by the crowd, nothing could persuade the judge's final verdict, much to Takumi's supporters and his club's displeasure. Subaru silenced his fans by saying that if he had more time, he could have easily scouted all 87 members. Etsuya silenced the crowd to announce that the semifinals would take place in a week. When the Polar Star residents returned to Polar Star Dormitory, Subaru already had infiltrated the dormitory using a duplicate key for Sōma's room. Sōma was not disturbed in the slightest and even offered to make him some food. During their meal, Subaru revealed that the match ups for the Semifinals would be Akira Hayama against Ryō Kurokiba and Sōma against himself with the theme of Western-style dishes for both matches. Subaru told Sōma, who knew why he had come, that their Semifinal match will be a shokugeki. For his compensation, Sōma would have to give up his prized knife, but if he won, Subaru would give back Takumi's Mezzaluna. Like his previous 100 challengers, he tried to make Sōma angry by insulting Takumi since he always stood up for his friends. However, Sōma remained cool and even called Subaru the pathetic one. Much to his surprise, Sōma changed his conditions into the return of the 100 knives Subaru had taken from all of his Shokugekis. Though Subaru felt that the weight of the conditions did not equate, Sōma finished by saying that he'd quit being a chef entirely in exchange, despite knowing that the results of a Shokugeki are absolute. To finish, Sōma told him that he'd make his work easier by using the Beef Stew they had been eating for their match. Subaru initially thought Sōma was joking just to demoralized him, but he learned that Sōma was serious. Then he was asked by Sōma about his ridiculous Shokugeki, and heard over Sōma's golden lecture about passion of cooking and his reason for his risky stipulation. Sōma's bold statement literary amused Subaru as he told him that he will copy Sōma's style perfectly before finally commenced the competition. Right after he leave the Polar Star Dormitory, Subaru is amused as he was looking forward to beat Sōma while mumbling about his tactics. 91st Tōtsuki Generation Kanachi Konishi The president (Don) of the Don RS and the 91st generation Tootsuki student, Kanachi is one of Sōma's allies and friend during his life in the academy. Sōma came to the Don R's to develop and create some Don dishes. However Kanachi was downtrodden by the impending disbanding of the club. When Ikumi arrived shortly after to begin the demolition of the club, Sōma challenged her in the Don R's name to a Shokugeki. Kanachi has been grateful for Sōma willingness to help him and with Sōma's first Shokugeki victory, the Don RS club preserved and Ikumi became its new member . Though Kanachi was disappointed that Sōma did not join the club, he respected Sōma's decision and still is grateful for what he has done. Etsuya Eizan Etsuya is a second year and 9th seat of the Elite Ten Council. Known as the Tōtsuki Alquimista, Etsuya first heard about Sōma when the news of his entrance speech spread throughout the school. Though he showed little interest in him in the beginning. After Sōma successfully rebuilt the Sumiredōri Shopping District business and effectively caused the rival Karaage business Mozuya, whom he was consulting for, to go bankrupt, Etsuya summoned Sōma to his office to recruit him. Sōma refused to work as his subordinate and thus Etsuya vowed to end his "upstart". Sōma does not like Etsuya much since he mocked Restaurant Yukihira as a "poor and boring" place. Despite their hostile rivalry, Etsuya at least acknowledges Sōma as an interesting chef. During the deliberation of Sōma's inclusion in the preliminaries by Erina, Etsuya along with Satoshi spoke in defense of Sōma, making sure that he kept his participation slot. During the preliminary round, Etsuya spent much of his time watching Sōma as he cooked, mostly to see his caliber. When Sōma succeeded into the Main Tournament, Etsuya couldn't be more pleased to see Sōma's further battles. Middle School Section Mitsuru Sōtsuda The Tōtsuki News Club member, Mitsuru is one of few Sōma's supporters in the academy. He began idolized Sōma after witnessing his victory against Alice in the Main Tournament's quarterfinals. Mitsuru's admiration about Sōma is so high that he wishes to conduct an biographic interview from Sōma, much to Sōma's chagrin. Sōma is his senior and he seemly have friendlier terms with Mitsuru. However, a news about his second Shokugeki caused Sōma to be suspicious about Mitsuru and even assumed him as a spy on Subaru's behalf. Contrary to Mitsuru's one side of respect however, Sōma found him much an annoyance. Category:Relationship Tōtsuki Culinary Academy:Staff & Officials Roland Chapelle The iron figure of the academy who rarely smiles, Chapelle was Sōma's first class lecturer in the academy. During Soma's first class, Chapelle is impressed about Sōma's creativity to make the dish named Boeuf Bourguignon. He was well aware of the sabotage that happened to Sōma, but was impressed by his ingenuity and quick recovery. The meal was so impressive that he smiled for the first time on record and gave Sōma and Megumi's dish an "A", though he wished he could have given them a higher grade. During the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election, Chapelle witnessed the heated rivalry between Sōma and Akira. Fumio Daimidō The warden of the Polar Star Dormitory, Fumio is the caretaker of the Polar Star Gang and the residents within, which includes Sōma. Fumio was impressed by Soma's cooking by using nothing but some cheap ingredients around the Polar Star Kitchen and granted him a room on his very first try. Fumio sees Soma and his fellow residents as the second coming of the Polar Star Gang Golden Era. Later, Fumio is shocked to hear that Soma is the son of a former Golden Era Polar Star Gang member and a previous 2nd Seat Elite Ten Council Hall of Famer, Jōichirō Saiba . Jun Shiomi A spice expert and one of the Polar Star Golden Era Legends, Shiomi held a deep grudge against Jōichirō for using her as a test subject for many of his failed experimental dishes. Unfortunately for Sōma, this lead to immediate hostility from her simply by being related to Jōichirō. Shiomi immediately punched Sōma in the face when she learned that he was Jōichirō's son and refused to help him with spice research. Thankfully with help from Hayama, Soma was able to get the necessary infomation to start creating his dish for the Autumn Election. By the end of the visit, Shiomi was less hostile towards Sōma, though that may be because of Hayama scolding her earlier. Tōtsuki Culinary Academy:Legends and Hall of Famers Gin Dōjima The Living Legend and well respected chef, Dōjima was the 70th Generation 1st seat in the Elite Ten with Sōma's father, Jōichirō Saiba, who was the 2nd seat at the time. During the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training Sōma managed to be one of the first individuals to finish his 50 meal quota and immediately headed to the hot-spring where Dōjima was already bathing. As the two began to chat each other, Dōjima was impressed by Sōma's skill and drive and encouraged Sōma to continue to hone his skills. During the conversation, Dōjima felt something nostalgic in Sōma. He became the supervisor during the [[Yukihira-Shinomiya Shokugeki Feud|Unofficial Shokugeki]]. Though the three judges voted for Shinomiya, Dōjima placed a vote in Megumi and Sōma's Rainbow Terrine as a token of acknowledgement and convinced Shinomiya to try the dish for himself, whom was moved to tears and recognized Megumi's cooking ability. Though the result saved Megumi from expulsion, Dōjima watched Soma's frustration for his "loss" as a result of the Unofficial Shokugeki, thinking that Sōma grew from the challenge after tasting his first "defeat." He continued to observe Sōma through the 200 egg meal challenge and was impressed by his live cooking to draw guests, a idea that saved him from his unfortunate handicap. As Sōma left the camp, Dōjima saw an image of Jōichirō and later confirmed that the reason Sōma was so familiar to him is because Jōichirō is his father. Kojirō Shinomiya Known as the Légumes Magician, Shinomiya was Sōma's biggest adversary during the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training. A heated argument began between the two after Shinomiya fired Megumi for altering his recipe after he forced a handicap on some of the students. Sōma could not stand Shinomiya's cold logic and attitude and challenged him to a Shokugeki when he went too far. This lead up to the [[Yukihira-Tadokoro Vs. Shinomiya Shokugeki]]. Throughout the duel, Shinomiya taunted Sōma because he viewed his partner, Megumi, as a liability, however Sōma ignored his words and believed in Megumi. Though they lost the duel initially, thanks to an intervention from Dōjima, forcing Shinomiya to eat Megumi's Rainbow Terrine, Shinomiya's heart was moved by her dish. Though the duel resulted in a tie, Shinomiya acknowledged both Sōma and Megumi's abilities. After the camp, Shinomiya bid farewell to Sōma and Megumi and wished them well for their continuing journey at Tōtsuki. Others Mayumi Kurase A childhood friend of Sōma, Mayumi was Soma's classmate from elementary school to middle school. Mayumi watched from a far and developed a crush on him due to his coolness and impressive skill in cooking. After the Yukihira Family departure that caused the Restaurant Yukihira to close down temporary, Mayumi was depressed to know that Sōma would not go on to the same high school as her, which filled her with regret for not confessing her feelings sooner. As luck would have it, Sōma returned to Restaurant Yukihira during his Summer Break, giving her the opportunity to spend time with him. Unfortunately, Mayumi sensed Sōma's progression and maturity and felt that she was left behind. After the Karaage Wars, Sōma personally talked to Mayumi, asking her to help continue to serve the Karaage rolls since he cannot stay in the neighborhood for much longer. Sōma felt that she was a hardworking and trustworthy individual since he noticed her diligence while in school together. Mayumi was touched to know that Sōma was looking at her too and happily agreed to help out in his stead. Soma promised that he would return from time to time and promised to make something for her whenever he returned to the neighborhood. During the Autumn Election Main Tournament, as Sōma began to craft his Bento for his first round duel, Sōma wondered how Mayumi was doing back in Sumiredōri. Kiyo Kiyo was a regular patron at Restaurant Yukihira. Whenever she entered the shop, Sōma would greet her with a smile and personally serve her no matter how busy the shop was. According to Jōichirō, Kiyo was the closest thing Sōma had to a grandmother as he never got the chance to know his real grandmother. In fact, Sōma called her as "Grandma" (おばちゃん oba-chan) and loved her as if she was his grandmother. Unfortunately, due to her age, Kiyo eventually was unable to walk to Restaurant Yukihira. Nevertheless, Sōma went out of his way to make a bento for her and delivered it to her house, much to Kiyo's joy. Sōma would later use the feelings he put into that bento dish to help create his dish for his 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election Main Tournament dish against Alice Nakiri. Category:Relationship